As the Burke Society hosted its November 4 debate with Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute and Robert R. Reilly of the American Foreign Policy Council, both sides agreed that recent events in the Muslim parts of Africa and Asia were heading towards fragmentation and uncertainty. Whether the United States should get involved in those foreign issues, however, was another question.

Modern governments do not understand war. The evidence for this is shown brazenly in the decision by the government of the United Kingdom to charge five Royal Marines with the alleged murder of an Afghan civilian in Helmand province last year. While the legal meandering may receive praise from anti-war groups, it contradicts the fundamentals of combat strategy and disregards the difficult choices which soldiers face on an everyday basis while serving in throwback lands like Afghanistan. It is easy enough to…